ARV Solutions achieve Investors in People Gold accreditation at first attempt.

“Having attained the Investors in People Standard Gold Accreditation is a great achievement with a first time assessment” IIP Assessor. Investors In People expect Gold accreditation to be awarded to the top 2 percentile of organisations assessed, so for ARV Solutions to achieve this at the first attempt is almost unknown.

The latest standard assessment criteria focus on leadership, support and continuous improvement. To attain Investors In People Gold all indicators need to be considered as Developed and Established, with seven of the 9 indicators at Advanced level.

ARV Solutions has flourished in the last three years, and plans to grow significantly over the next 3 years with plans to add to our team of 12 staff. We decided to go through the Investors In People process to benchmark where we are now, against the highest quality measure, to ensure as we move forward we have the most effective leadership and development practices in place, and to ensure we have the tools and knowledge to keep improving them.

We had high aspirations of achieving accreditation, at the first assessment as we believed we demonstrated a strong commitment to training and staff development. We work within a team oriented culture rarely seen within a recruitment agency business, and are committed to improvement wherever we can. To have the business measured by one of the most recognised standards in the world and achieve the Gold standard is a huge boost to the company and the staff.

Jim Roach, MD, ARV Solutions commented; “The current Investors In People sixth generation standard is somewhat different to the first assessment I was involved in at a previous recruitment agency over 15 years ago. It turned out to be far more closely aligned to the things we are doing instinctively within the business now. Our aim is to try and do the right thing, rather than follow the crowd. I decided when I established ARV that the old school carrot and stick management techniques and living in fear of missing inappropriate KPIs had to end. I didn’t want to grow a business based on the hard sell, or chasing numbers to keep managers happy, for which the recruitment industry has been too renowned. We believed we had found a better way, and are delighted this has now been affirmed.”

ARV Solutions is a small business specialising in offsite construction, manufacturing and technical recruitment, people are at the heart of what we do. It is important we embody brilliant employee values and a strong employer brand in order to both understand and advise employers. The award is very much a testament to our amazing team of staff, and to all the external support we enjoy from professional advisors like Paul Jacobs, our learning partners LearnDirect and the close links we have formed with industry with trade associations TEAM, STA, TRADA and MPBA. As a result of this accreditation we now have a clear vision of where we can gain further improvements to aid the growth and success of the business.